It is generally well-known to provide a motor vehicle with two or more rows of seats for use by occupants of the motor vehicle. Particularly in the case of small commercial vehicles having passenger seating such as minibuses and for multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) there is an increasing need to offer a high level of seating flexibility such as fore-aft movement of the seating and removal of one or more rows of seating.
However, such seats are often heavy (e.g., weighing 30 kg) due to the need to provide in many cases integral three point safety restraint anchorage points and the consequential need for substantial floor mounting structures sometimes referred to as a “seat leg” or a “support pedestal.” The removal of such seats along with their associated support pedestal for the purpose of loading long items typically is difficult to achieve within the confines of a motor vehicle. As a consequence, there is a need to provide a seat that is easier to handle.
In addition to the foregoing, there is an increased need to provide a support within the passenger compartment for other objects for use by occupants of the motor vehicle such as for example, a table, an entertainment center, a storage bin, a storage locker and a rack for sports equipment that can provide in-vehicle secure storage, particularly for long items such as cycles, surfboards and canoes.
It would be desirable to provide a motor vehicle multi-function mounting apparatus that not only allows for the easier removal or repositioning of a seat of the motor vehicle but also has increased versatility by being able to securely mount a range of differing objects in the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle.